


Return of the Light

by Marvelouslife



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/M, Love Confessions, Missing Scene, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Unrequited Love, Villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelouslife/pseuds/Marvelouslife
Summary: Ben Solo brought the last Jedi back to life, but there are costs to preforming such a deed. He says what he can in his delirium about how he feels about Rey.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Return of the Light

It was his final moment. His last chance to redeem himself, show her that he was worth wasting her time on. He was certainly successful. Rey did spend most of her war life thinking about him. Wondering his possibilities, hoping for his change to become better than what he was. Now here he was, barely in her arms, taking his last breaths. 

She wanted to cry, but she was a stubborn person, and she clung onto the improbable idea that he would make it out of this dank tomb. Deep down in her burning, drowning heart, she knew it to be false, so she barely grasped him. He was clutching onto her, keeping himself tethered to the living to get his last words out. She was more tangled up in his arms than he was to her.

"We knew how this was going to end," he started before he began a miniature coughing fit. 

"No, we didn't," she argued, choked, but it was just a pathetic attempt at denying the truth. He breathed a laugh, but he couldn't smile. He looked down at her and only nodded, saving his energy for when he truly needed to speak. She shook her head as her eyes watered, but never spilled. She finally grabbed his black tunic, and grasped him tightly as she placed her hand on his cheek. 

"I was never going to live past thirty. Not with the ocean's of blood I've shed." She felt his energy slowly fading away. His spirit walking towards the afterlife, but she wasn't ready for him to leave. She didn't believe it was his time yet. She wanted him for a little bit longer.

"But...but you saved the day, you redeemed yourself. Returned to the light. Y-you're Ben again, a Jedi," she rushed over her thoughts, and he shook his head once more. He placed his bloody hand on her face as he shushed her. She heard a crack as his body shifted, indicating the many broken bones from the far fall he experienced earlier in the fight. He winced, and it took him a moment before he explained himself.

"I never did it...for the light. I did it…for my love. My love...for you, sweetheart." He was breathless, and his body was collapsing, but he kept himself up if only to hold Rey close. Rey was having a hard time keeping the tears from spilling, and with Ben's admission, the pain was growing overwhelming. 

Thinking about it now, he was right. None of his actions could be considered him returning to the light. He killed Snoke, but he didn't kill him because Snoke was a villain. He murdered him to gain a throne, and save the girl he obsessed over. Even with Palpatine, Ben had his motives to destroy the phantom menace to gain power, but he wanted his equal by his side when he took it. He was still a selfish man who wanted to take a light like Rey for himself, and in his final moments, he realized and accepted that. 

Rey closed her eyes, and turned away as a tear streaked her face. Ben's shaky hand lifted, and his finger reached out to wipe the hidden tear away. She looked toward him, the tears flowing freely now. "Oh Ben, I fell in love with a bad man," his movements were stiffening but he nodded. 

"A bad man who...got what he deserved," he cracked the faintest smile, and his blunt words got a short laugh out of the girl he held. The moment lasted a second before Rey let out a choked sob. It wasn't funny enough to prevent her from outwardly crying. It in fact, caused it.

Ben Solo was obsessed with a girl who was from the slums yet managed to one up him. She was a nobody from a nowhere place, that made herself known all because of her compassion for others. She was a girl searching for a version of herself greater than what she was. It was why she grew attached to Ben Solo and his life. His family. She saw that legend, that greatness with his bloodline, and tried to follow it. What Ben did for her was, make her see that she was worth existing without the help of others.

He was not a good person, and he never claimed to be. He wasn't downright evil either. Rey was lucky that he took an akin to her instead of wanting to squash her like his other worthless competitors. He wasn't asking for any gratitude, he just wanted to inform her that she _did_ succeed in bringing the best out of him. 

She cried into his chest begging him, "please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone again." He could only pet her hair once, the pain consuming him. His energy was drained from bringing her back from the dead, and he was ready for bed. His grip on her loosened, and she gasped.

"It's time I sleep forever," and free the world from his darkness. It was a strange sentence, but in his time of delusions, anything went. He closed his eyes, and he dropped dead. Rey's heartbeat sped, and she hyperventilated. His figure slowly began to fade, and become one with the Force. Rey tucked her hands underneath his rapidly disappearing body, but he was already gone. 

Rey smiled as she let out a hysterical laugh, "you were wrong," she croaked as she rubbed her fingers against his empty clothes, "you had returned to the light." 


End file.
